#exercise – Avenue 23

My Nike Story

October 6, 2017December 7, 2017 by Avenue 23, posted in Lifestyle

Hey Everyone!

So I don’t know about you, but I LOVE looking good for “working out” (AKA when I DO actually exercise!). No not hair and makeup lol, but clothing! If you are like me, we wear out exercise clothing even for not exercising, which probably influences me to dress nicely even when I’m at the gym. Anyways, I buy a ton of brightly colored and unique patterned gym clothing.

I do have a funny store about my shoes I bought from Sport Chek a while ago. One day I was talking to my mom and she would not stop dropping hints about buying new work runners. Basically, I wore these shoes to Italy and everyday would involve me walking 30 minutes to work. Then at work I was working with dusty boxes of artifacts and walking around all day. After I would walk 30 mins home or sometimes it would take us an extra 10- 20 mins to go to the grocery store and longer to catch a train. You get the picture, it was A LOT of walking and my beautiful shoes were trashed. I had been putting off buying shoes when I got back, because funds were tight and I was also slightly attached. Anyways, my mom got sick of looking at them and offered to help pay. We went to Sport Chek, because one of my friends gave me a discount card, and was like buy Nikes to which I was like fine, whatever.

There I was looking at all of these florescent and beautifully patterned shoes- holding up the brightest pair of red shoes when this worker comes over to ask me if he could help me. So, I wold him I wanted to a size 7 and he looked at me, then back at the shoe. He grabbed it from me and looked it over then said “No you don’t want these shoes.” To which I was starring at him all weird and saying “Yes, I do?” He then looked at me scrunched up this shoe into a little ball and retorted- ” Look, no support. These are terrible shoes and expensive. Let me show you these shoes that I know you’re going to hate.”

I just looked over at my mom mouthing “What the fuck?” to her as she was trying to hold back a laugh. So I followed him over to the shoes he was looking at to amuse him, even though I knew I was going to buy those bright red shoes. I could just imagine myself showing them off to all my work friends. He picked up the UGLIEST shoe ever and tried to scrunch it up into a ball and couldn’t. “See the support on these babies?”. My mom’s response was something like on these babies?”. My mom’s response was something like ” Ya….. Great….. Those really aren’t her style,” He was like ” You know kids today don’t appreciate well supported shoes anymore. All they want are the colorful ones”

I’d like to take a second to say that I am 24 and was being lectured by a guy a year older than me- which makes this story even better! Also, I started having flashbacks to the days my dad would ship for me. Style was VERY much second to support and practicalities of staying warm in winter. One time, I got a pair of these mittens that basically went up to my elbows and were the ugliest things ever- even though they were warm.

After saying this, he decided it would be better to try to sell us pretty shoes that were half supported. I looked at them to not offend him, but my heart was dead set on these bright red shoes. I didn’t need them to exercise in, just to walk in everyday- especially at a job where I walk a lot. Support is great for exercise, but these are meant to be walking shoes- which I had of course told him. I basically looked at my mom for support, because I’m a combination of socially awkward and a person who can’t stay no.

My mom was like ” No…. Thanks… I think we are done.”

“Phew, thank god I don’t make commission!” was his last response before walking off LOL. We were laughing so hard on the way out!

To conclude this story, I would like to say that we are chickens and went back on his lunch break to buy the shoes. AND that is how I got my beautiful, bright, red Nikes!

Thanks to the worker for an awesome story!

-Erin xo

Exercise Update

August 20, 2017December 7, 2017 by Avenue 23, posted in Lifestyle

Hey lovely people,

I wanted to give you guys an update about how life on a diet and exercise is going currently. UM it’s going horribly! I haven’t been following the plan, because the plan IS HARD. It’s hard to not overeat, and to restrict my diet THIS much all at once. It’s even hard to find the time to workout or plan a meal! Today is my first day off in 20 days…. ya that is telling you something right there. I’m also freaking out, because I have 69 days until I go to Mexico! That is not a lot my friends! Time to really get down too it!

Alright so here’s my list of bad things I’ve been doing:

Not Exercising
Drinking TOO much coffee
Not eating enough healthy meals
Have not been glutten free or vegetarian
Not getting enough sleep

On the other hand, here is my list of pros:

When I eat out I drink water and eat as vegetarian as possible
I have been eating a lot of veggies lately (around 4 cups which is way more than usual), I’ve been snacking on it way more
I’ve been managing my stress a lot better
I have been waking up a lot earlier, but I’m still going to bed too late
I’m drinking more water

So I do have a bit of a plan. Recently I quit 1/4 of my jobs- this one is the most stressful and I realized I don’t really need it! I’ll be done as of the end of the month! This means I will have WAY more time to myself. I’m also going on vacation this week, so that I can do something other than work for a week AND it’ll be a healthy vacation as well (more on this later).

I truly think that the best way to get on track is to meal plan. I haven’t been doing this at all, because I have been so busy. I think if I do this and prep all of my meals that’ll force me to eat healthy and change up my diet. I don’t mind eating healthy- I love it! I just haven’t had the time, so I’m hoping this helps! I feel like time is the biggest thing for me. Once I manage my time better I will have fast easy meals for when I am on the go, I will have more time for exercising, and I think more time to sleep at proper times! Maybe once I’m rested too I will feel more motivated as well!

Here’s hoping! Any advice would be wonderful as well!

Love you guys!

-Erin xo

Put Your Back Into It

August 6, 2017December 7, 2017 by Avenue 23, posted in Lifestyle, Nutrition and Fitness

Hey Guys!

I hope you are doing fabulous! Today I wanted to talk a bit about back pain! I know, so exciting.

Basically, I have been doing a lot of physically draining things at my different jobs, and most of time it would be ok, however, this week it seems to have taken a toll on my body! On thursday, I went to lift a very heavy object at work, and I felt a not so great fatigue and pain in my back. I lifted three more objects and it seemed to be ok, however, I then went to a concert and after standing all night in bad shoes, my back felt unbearable. The next day, I still felt some soreness, but I thought that maybe this was just some muscle weakness and I worked all day again to come home to more pain. Again, I worked a different job today that involved a ton of walking and now my back seems to be just as sore. So currently, I am sitting in my bed surrounded by pillows using heat and trying to figure out how to fix this.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because we need to stop for a minute and listen to our bodies. We live in such a fast paced environment that sometimes we forget to check in with ourselves and things get missed. We ignore our bodies and sometimes we get more injured, or we get sick when a lot of this could be avoided.

When it comes to my current situation, I have realized a few things that might help my fellow back pain people! One thing my dad told me was that your back is not a great thing to hurt. Please, don’t hurt any part of yourself, but your back is not fun. When you throw your back out you can’t move, you are stuck laying in one place and you can’t turn your body and it’s insanely hard to maneuver yourself! So here’s some fun information on how to help your back pain!

When lifting ANYTHING heavy, DO NOT bend over it and pick it up! Use those legs! You need to squat down and pick it up and use your leg muscles. This puts less of a strain on your body! When I lifted those heavy objects at work, that was my problem. I didn’t use my legs to assist my back and I tweaked it in some painful way.
Workout. By exercising, you’re strengthening your muscles, so they have less of a chance of being tweaked and pulled. Focus on your core specifically. When your core is strong, it helps to support and take more of the brunt work for your back.

These are the big ones for prevention, but here is what to do that might help your pain.

Have a hot bath with Epson salts. This will help relax your muscles and you! Your muscles will feel less tense. When one part of your body is sore, you might be limping or standing funny, and the rest of your body takes a toll, because it is trying to compensate for this new balance and weight shift. With a bath or hot tub, your whole body will feel less tense. One of the disabled individuals I work with has really bad scoliosis and she sits in front of water jets to massage those muscles as well. She feels so much more relaxed and her muscles are feeling way better after!
Put any form of heat on your back. I love the smell and feel of A535, so that is my go to for a healing lotion, but anything like that will help, because it is putting heat on your back and relaxing those muscles. I also suggest a heating pad as well! Those beaded ones you put in the mircowave are magical
If you feel like your body can handle it, than stretch. Do some yoga poses, or just stretch out. You need to begin to move your body slowly. Your body will become stiff after from sitting a certain way to not move it. That weakens those muscles and others because of the compensation thing I was talking about, but also you stop using those muscles properly and they become weak and you are more prone to hurting it again- but it will be easier to hurt it now as well.

These are all very important drug free methods! I don’t recommend using medication unless your doctor says it’s ok. I feel like the key to fixing your back method is to treat for long term, versus just a short term relief. Strengthening those muscles are truly key!

Well, I hope you guys are not in any pain like I am, but if you are I hope this helps for your temporary back pain! Stay tuned, my next article will give an update on how the diet and workouts are going!

P.S: Here is a picture of my dog to help you through any pain you might be having! He is so cute!

– Erin